Skin Cancer Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Skin Cancer, including details on identification, causes, prevention, treatment.

Photodynamic therapy for cutaneous verrucous carcinoma.

Nikkels AF, Thirion L, Quatresooz P, Piérard GE

Department of Dermatopathology, University Hospital of Liège, Belgium. af.nikkels@chu.ulg.ac.be

Cutaneous verrucous carcinoma is a low-grade and well-differentiated variant of squamous cell carcinoma. This rare neoplasm follows a seemingly indolent progression and exhibits a low metastatic potential. Photodynamic therapy relies on the selective intratumoral cell accumulation and photoactivation of a photosensitizer, leading to the generation of phototoxic compounds responsible for necrosis and apoptosis of the target cells. An 82-year-old man presenting with a large long-standing verrucous carcinoma on the leg was treated successfully by 6 photodynamic therapy sessions administered at weekly intervals using methyl-aminolevulinate and 57-J/cm(2) irradiations at 634-nm wavelength. The use of methyl-aminolevulinate-photodynamic therapy for treating cutaneous verrucous carcinoma had not been reported so far. It may represent a convenient therapeutic alternative in this setting.

Published 20 August 2007 in J Am Acad Dermatol, 57(3): 516-9.
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